Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that getting started on pursuing a goal can
Speaker 1: be hard, but once you have taken even a baby step,
Speaker 1: sticking with your goal pursuit make it easier. So gently
Speaker 1: invite yourself to start and watch your goal get rolling
Speaker 1: from there. Today's tip comes from psychology professor Johanna pets
Speaker 1: and the Character Lab newsletter. As Pete explains, it's often
Speaker 1: harder to get started than to keep going on a task,
Speaker 1: and the closer you get to achieving a goal, the
Speaker 1: easier it gets. So you could argue that the hardest
Speaker 1: part of reaching a goal is getting started. Given that,
Speaker 1: she advises making it easier to begin your goal pursuit
Speaker 1: by accepting even a small step as an adequate start.
Speaker 1: She suggests telling yourself today is a good day for
Speaker 1: getting started. That phrase, today is a good day for
Speaker 1: getting started, and the freedom to take a small step
Speaker 1: are very encouraging. There are times when setting ambitious goals
Speaker 1: and flying out of the starting gate can be helpful,
Speaker 1: but when your schedule or your spirits means a fast
Speaker 1: start is not doable. Accepting and celebrating even little steps
Speaker 1: can be a way of making some progress when you
Speaker 1: might not begin at all if the first step seem daunting.
Speaker 1: Maybe you need to prepare for a big moved, but
Speaker 1: you can't bear to face packing up your closet, much
Speaker 1: less the entire basement. Today is a good day for
Speaker 1: getting started, and getting started might mean just procuring packing supplies,
Speaker 1: or maybe even just some tape. Maybe you want to
Speaker 1: get fit, even though you haven't exercise since your last
Speaker 1: baby was born six years ago. Today is a good
Speaker 1: day for getting started, perhaps by downloading the couch to
Speaker 1: five k app or even just going for a ten
Speaker 1: minute walk. Maybe you want to find a new job.
Speaker 1: Today is a good day for getting started, so you
Speaker 1: could decide to review your most recent resume and identify
Speaker 1: content that you want to add when you update it.
Speaker 1: Once you've taken that first step, you can continue to
Speaker 1: encourage your progress with gentle invitations to take doable next steps.
Speaker 1: As Pete suggests, you might say today is a good
Speaker 1: day to get started on step two, but the point
Speaker 1: is simply to do something today. If most things get
Speaker 1: easier over time, than what you do today is helping
Speaker 1: towards your bigger goals. As long as you choose to
Speaker 1: do something today, you can choose to do something on
Speaker 1: all the other today's. But no need to worry about
Speaker 1: that just yet. Just knowing today is good is fine.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.